PhD Psychology: Decolonising the Psychology Research Methods Curriculum

心理学博士：心理学研究方法课程的非殖民化

• 批准号: 2711750
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Bristol
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2711750
• 关键词: PhD; Psychology; Decolonising; Research; Methods

Recent movements such as #RhodesMustFall, #LiberateMyDegree and 'why is my curriculum white?' have urged collective action to liberate knowledge from its colonial legacy. Universities should be held accountable for under-representing the global majority through a lopsided, mono-culturist and US-Eurocentric curriculum (Bird & Pitman, 2019). The colonised curriculum deprives learners from being critically reflexive and contextually sensitive to the scholarship they use and disseminate (Castell et al., 2018). Additionally, it creates an academy that considers western research and researchers as primary generators of reliable knowledge, while disregarding their non-western equivalents (Barnes & Siswana, 2018; Reidpath & Allotey, 2019). Predominately US-Eurocentric psychological knowledge is guilty of ignoring injustices in the name of universalistic notions and scientific neutrality (Barnes, 2018). Within psychology, selective emphasis on western knowledge makes psychological knowledge unrepresentative of the global context (Adams et al., 2015). Professional bodies such as the British Psychological Association and the American Psychological Association, and universities have attempted to decolonise curriculum by diversifying reading lists to include multiple voices (BPS, 2020; Bronstein & Quina, 2003). However, such efforts have little effect when non-western scholarship (barring a few) lacks global visibility and acceptance, and when negative perceptions for non-western research keeps it outside the purview of educators and learners (Barnes & Siswana, 2018; Castell et al., 2018; Mitchell, 2020; Phiri, 2018). This challenge could plausibly be global; compelling non-western scholars to catch-up with the west by cloning, imitating and conforming; and without critically reflecting on the social, cultural and historical context of the mainstream knowledge they use (Helland & Lindgren, 2016). Present strategies have had limited success because they fail comprehensive evaluation of factors (like visibility, bias issues) obstructing meaningful, well-rounded decolonisation.Research methods (RM) form the backbone of psychology curricula and are most effectively taught using examples. Examples provide a 'hook' to engage students, who consequently learn something of interest about psychology whilst also learning about psychological RM. However, colonised curricula prevent learners from understanding why dominant methodologies might be locally incompatible since indigenous alternatives do not find place in mainstream RM curricula (Barnes, 2018; Papoutsaki, 2007). Therefore, empowering educators and learners with tools to appreciate diversity in psychology RM (e.g., by being able to search and locate an example of a non-significant chi-square test in social psychology based on open data collected and published in a non-western country), would offer alternate ways of thinking and iterate toward a decolonised curriculum. Genuine decolonising efforts requires strategies that go beyond mere diversification of reading lists. The aim of this projects is to explore current barriers and devise potential solutions to decolonising the RM curriculum. Through exploratory sequential mixed methods research, the proposed project aims to (a) advance decolonisation efforts by identifying barriers preventing psychology RM from decolonising (b) investigate ways to address the global visibility need for non-western research, and (c) develop an evidence-based strategy to support broader, discipline-wide global efforts to decolonise psychology RM curriculum in the UK. This research would contribute toward the ethical and educational priority of UK universities to provide comprehensive, holistic and global education.

最近的运动例如#RhodesMustFall、#LiberateMyDegree 和“为什么我的课程是白色的？”敦促采取集体行动，将知识从殖民遗产中解放出来。大学应该对通过不平衡、单一文化和以美国欧洲为中心的课程未能代表全球大多数人负责（Bird & Pitman，2019）。殖民课程剥夺了学习者对他们使用和传播的学术成果的批判性反思和情境敏感性（Castell et al., 2018）。此外，它还创建了一个学院，将西方研究和研究人员视为可靠知识的主要产生者，而忽视非西方的同类研究和研究人员（Barnes & Siswana，2018；Reidpath & Allotey，2019）。主要以美国和欧洲为中心的心理学知识犯了以普遍主义观念和科学中立的名义忽视不公正的错误（Barnes，2018）。在心理学领域，选择性地强调西方知识使得心理学知识无法代表全球背景（Adams et al., 2015）。英国心理学协会和美国心理学协会等专业机构以及大学试图通过多样化阅读清单以包含多种声音来实现课程的非殖民化（BPS，2020；Bronstein & Quina，2003）。然而，当非西方学术（除了少数）缺乏全球知名度和接受度，以及对非西方研究的负面看法使其处于教育工作者和学习者的视野之外时，这种努力收效甚微（Barnes & Siswana，2018；Castell 等，2018；Mitchell，2020；Phiri，2018）。这一挑战可能是全球性的；迫使非西方学者通过克隆、模仿和顺应来赶上西方；并且没有批判性地反思他们所使用的主流知识的社会、文化和历史背景（Helland & Lindgren，2016）。目前的策略取得的成功有限，因为它们未能对阻碍有意义、全面的非殖民化的因素（如可见性、偏见问题）进行全面评估。研究方法（RM）构成了心理学课程的支柱，并且通过实例进行最有效的教学。例子提供了一个吸引学生的“钩子”，学生因此可以学习一些有关心理学的有趣知识，同时也了解心理学 RM。然而，殖民课程阻止学习者理解为什么主流方法可能与当地不相容，因为本土替代方法在主流 RM 课程中找不到位置（Barnes，2018；Papoutsaki，2007）。因此，为教育者和学习者提供欣赏心理学 RM 多样性的工具（例如，能够根据在非西方国家收集和发布的开放数据搜索和定位社会心理学中非显着性卡方检验的示例），将提供替代的思维方式并迭代非殖民化课程。真正的去殖民化努力需要的策略不仅仅是阅读清单的多样化。该项目的目的是探索当前的障碍并设计潜在的解决方案来实现 RM 课程的非殖民化。通过探索性序贯混合方法研究，拟议项目旨在（a）通过识别阻碍心理学 RM 去殖民化的障碍来推进去殖民化工作，（b）研究解决非西方研究全球知名度需求的方法，以及（c）制定基于证据的策略，支持更广泛、全学科范围的全球努力，使英国心理学 RM 课程去殖民化。这项研究将有助于英国大学的道德和教育优先事项，以提供全面、整体和全球性的教育。